10 Scellini / 10 Somali Shillings

The Banca Nazionale Somala was established in 1960 at independence, replacing the AFIS-era Cassa per la Circolazione Monetaria della Somalia and its Italian-administered scrip. This 1971 note was printed by OCV in Rome — the same state security printer that had produced Italian lira issues — a supplier relationship that persisted well after decolonization, simply because the institutional and commercial links were already in place.

Somalia's 1969 coup brought Mohamed Siad Barre to power, and by 1975 the Banca Nazionale Somala would be restructured into the Bankiga Qaranka Soomaaliyeed. This 1971 emission therefore belongs to a narrow transitional window under the early Barre government.